Rumours and speculation about Mazda's plan to revive the RX-7 have been given a boost with the news that official sketches have been completed under the direction of new Mazda design chief Ikua Maeda.
According to a report in Autocar, Maeda is lobbying hard within Mazda to get the new sports model built around the next generation Renesis 16X rotary engine.
With an (equivalent) displacement of 1.6 litres, the new engine will feature a longer stroke, and direct injection and is expected to make anything up to 300bhp in turbocharged form.
Maeda's vision is for a car that moves further upmarket than its predecessors, and Autocar suggests a new concept version of the RX-7 could be revealed as early as next year.
Otherwise, details remain extremely sketchy, although it's (probably!) safe to assume any future RX-7 will feature a two-seat configuration and be more overtly sporty than the somewhat quirky four seat RX-8.
With nothing else to go on, we offer you some pictures of the Mazda Taiki concept revealed in 2007. This car also featured the 16X Renesis engine, and helped fire up the 'new RX-7' speculation back then.
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